Darren Wang, Peng Yuchang butt heads over first male lead role in ‘The Last Wish'

Controversy built up over the positions of the actors’ names in the movie poster

The Last Wish, a Chinese movie starring Chinese actors Peng Yuchang, Wei Daxun and Taiwanese actor Darren Wang, is set to be released on September 12.

The movie has caused a stir before its release as Darren and Yucheng have aired their dissatisfactions with the order of the actors’ names on the movie poster.

At the film’s premiere, the posters and advertising material listed Darren’s name before Yuchang and Daxun’s, effectively billing Darren as the male lead. After the premiere, Yuchang took to his work studio’s Weibo account to share his thoughts.

“Muddling up the order of the actors has damaged Peng Yuchang’s rightful place as the lead actor. Even after communicating this to the production crew numerous times, the mistake has yet to be corrected,” the statement on Yuchang’s work studio read.

In the same post, the work studio announced their decision to terminate their contract with the film studio behind the movie. They will pay for their own expenses for all future promotional activities.

Following the statement by Yuchang’s work studio, Darren’s work studio released a statement as well, sharing that the contract Darren had signed was for the "role of the leading male character”. According to the contract Darren had signed, he was "promised top billing at the start and end of the movie”, and the “presumptuous disaster” that had ensued had therefore confused them greatly.

The statement also emphasised that the rumours that Darren had unfairly pressured other actors with the help of monetary assets were false.

They then ended things off by promising to “get to the bottom of this matter, and reveal the truth to the public”.

Eventually, the film studio released a statement addressing the controversy, sharing that both Yuchang and Darren had signed contracts for the lead role, and that they will discipline the crew members involved in the mix-up. They also apologised for the trouble they had caused to the two actors.